Car Bomb Kills At Least 54 In Kurdish Iraq

Published: February 28, 1995

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 27—
A car bomb exploded in a crowded market street in the Iraqi city of Zakho today, killing at least 54 people and wounding up to 80, Western and Turkish officials said.

The city is in the area of northern Iraq controlled by Kurds, who are under the protection of an allied Western force that operates from the air base at Incirlik, Turkey. It was not clear who was behind the explosion. Past bombings have been blamed by local Kurdish groups on the Iraqi Government, which claims sovereignty over the area.

American military officials at Incirlik said the early-morning explosion occurred in the financial district of Zakho. They said that at least 54 people were dead but the death toll could rise. Up to 80 people were injured, 15 seriously, a spokesman said. Western aid workers said they feared the death toll could go higher.

Northern Iraq has had fighting since mid-December between two factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

A statement from the Patriotic Union said initial reports from Zakho indicated that as many as 80 people were killed and dozens wounded. Relief workers reported from the region that the explosion was in a crowded commercial street lined with traders, many from neighboring Turkey. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official confirmed the explosion and said he was concerned that Turkish truck drivers who regularly pass through Zakho could be among the casualties.

Zakho, 12 miles from the Turkish border, and the towns of Dohuk and Salahuddin are controlled by the Democratic Party. The Patriotic Union holds Erbil and Sulaimaniya further south.

Turkey and the United States have recently warned both leaders that their fighting could endanger the flow of relief aid to the region.

Turkey supports the truck trade into Iraq to boost its regional economy, which has been affected by the 1990 United Nations embargo punishing Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Turkish trucks bring food and medicine, allowed under the trade sanctions, and return with diesel fuel to sell on the local market.

Lucrative tolls collected by the Democratic from the Turkish trucks lie at the heart of the present conflict with the rival group. The Democratic Party refuses to share the revenue. The two factions formally share power in the local parliament and administration, based in Erbil.